


Copper Aflame

by miraculousem



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Reverse Crush AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 14:16:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6569518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculousem/pseuds/miraculousem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A reverse crush fic requested by <a href="http://www.kendracs.tumblr.com">kendracs</a> on Tumblr. </p>
<p>	"Adrien was fidgety.<br/>He squirmed in his seat and Nino had to elbow him repeatedly to get him to tone it down, lest they draw attention to themselves.<br/>He couldn’t help it. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was sitting behind him, after all."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Copper Aflame

                Adrien was fidgety.

                He squirmed in his seat and Nino had to elbow him repeatedly to get him to tone it down, lest they draw attention to themselves.

                He couldn’t help it. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was sitting behind him, after all.

                Of course, she sat behind him every day, but _today_ of all days was especially nerve-wracking… He drummed his fingers along the manufactured wood. The bell would ring soon, and when it did, he was going to talk to her about something other than school and fashion. Maybe he’d even ask her to lunch!

                Needless to say, he was terrified.

                Marinette was comfortable. She was a silly kind of comfortable that oozed confidence and radiated friendliness (which he adored). Even so, the two were quite awkward ever since the infamous ‘Gum Incident.’ Nino practically had to force him to talk to her after that. Even after the bliss of her forgiveness, the encounter loomed over the two of them like mist.

                The bell rang.

                They were stiff, they were formal. They were acquaintances. The two of them were friendly, sure, but it never went polite chatter and pregnant silences. Adrien could handle that, with that type of interaction taking up the bulk of his life, but turning around and seeing her now attentively listening to Alya’s spiel and not being able to keep the grin off her face… He wanted to make her smile like that too.

                They were talking about the Ladyblog, he presumed.

                He’d wait. He was in no position to interrupt and make a bad impression, after all. That could be _cat_ astrophic.

                Heh.

                Alya paused to breath and Marinette took a chance to pipe in. “I swear, you take being a fangirl to a whole new level.”

                “It’s called _passion,_ girl. And you’re certainly one to talk, miss ‘In-Love-With-Chat-Noir.‘”

                _… What?_

               Time  stopped as she ducked her head a bit in embarrassment, yet her eyes sparkled at the name. She giggled a bit. “I’m not in _love_ Alya. It’s just a celebrity crush, I guess,” she mumbled.

                _Celebrity crush. CRUSH. She likes Chat Noir._

_That’s me. I’m Chat Noir._

                Alya was about to interject again, but Adrien started hacking up a lung for a reason unknown to his friends and Nino thumped him on the back a bit. The topic was dropped entirely.

                His friend looked sympathetic, and Adrien was about to ask why because this was the _best_ possible outcome. Who would’ve thought! Marinette liked him back!

                But then he remembered. Nino didn’t know that. So he sat for the rest of the free period, interjecting only when he was drawn into the conversation and trying not to look at Marinette any more than he usually would (which was a lot, but she didn’t know that).

                _She likes me. The_ other _me. I can start over, I can try again._

_I’ll try again._

 

                Marinette slid onto her balcony right as her Miraculous gave way, leaving Tikki to spiral out and almost fall off the edge on the street below. She lunged for her friend at the last second; Tikki could have caught herself just fine, she assumed, but better safe than sorry. She could feel the scrapes under her clothes and the bruises blossoming where she had slipped up on the way home, and cursed her luck for not getting injured _before_ she used her Miraculous Cure.

                At least Chat was fine.

                He had taken the hit _yet again_ , and if she has enough time to scold him post-battle, she would have. His sunny smile afterwards, though, was a bit too breathtaking and she neglected to say something…

                She’d have to say something later.

                “Marinette, you’re bleeding through your shirt. You need to treat—

                The girl bolted up immediately and slid through the trap door, aggravating her wounds as she jumped to the floor and stripped down in haste. She didn’t care. Her undershirt was _white._ Getting blood out of it would be an absolute nightmare!

                Not like she fared any better than her shirt. She looked like an absolute nightmare too.

                “The costume will be fine, right Tikki? It’ll repair itself?”

                Tikki grumbled as she munched on her cookie. “You went skidding across a rooftop and crashed onto a sidewalk. A _cement_ sidewalk. Your costume is the last thing you need to worry about.”

                “Sorry, Tikki, I—“she hissed as she put on a fresh tank top— “I was just trying to get here before I de-transformed. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

                Tikki was snoozing away by then.

                Marinette flopped onto her bed and regretted it instantly. The dull ache turned back into a jarring pain and she bit her lip at the contact, despite the blankets underneath her having the soothing texture of coming fresh out of the dryer.  Still, she was just about to drift off when…

                When there was a rapping noise coming from the trap door.

                _What the actual heck?!_

                It came again.

                _… Someone’s trying to break in._

                Silence.

_Where’s my baseball bat?_

                She opened the trap door and peered through the slight opening, ready to, t-to…

                “Chat Noir?”

                He looked about ready to take off when she saw him first, but he whipped around enough to make an onlooker nauseous when she voiced her presence. He smiled, and it was so earth-shatteringly different than any smile she’s seen from him before.

                “That would be me. Mind if I drop in?”

                She short circuited a bit before reminding herself that yes, she _did_ in fact mind because his face was plastered up on her walls. Having over a dozen pairs staring right back at him would be a real mood killer, that was for sure. “Um, c-could you give me a minute to tidy up?”

                “Whatever the _Paw-rincess_ wants.”

                _Princess! He called me Princess!_ He had called her that before the few times their identities crossed paths, but this felt more…

                Intimate. (When she ignored the god-awful pun, at least.)

                She hastily shut the door and steadied her breathing, failing to notice that he had the wind knocked out of him as well. She was in such a hurry that as soon as she had all the superhero’s merchandise in a drawer, she slammed her finger in it and yelped loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood.

                His head immediately shot into eyesight. “Are you alright?”

                She looked back at him as he dangled in the room. She could actually see his forehead for once. “Yeah it’s just my finger. I’m good.”

                “… What about the rest of you?”

                _The rest of… oh._ “Well, you know, there was that Akuma attack earlier, and I guess I got caught up in it?”

                “You guess? Ladybug’s magic should have healed everything.”

                “My luck’s not exactly the best, Kitty.”

                She saw it this time, his sharp intake of breath at the pet name, and her heart swelled. “Let me take a look.”

                He crawled through the opening in the roof and slinked throughout the space with wary eyes, as if he was nervous. Him, nervous! She could laugh at the thought.

                Still, her sight wasn’t betraying her.

                He examined her bruises with utmost care. His fingers fluttered along her bare skin and danced at the barrier of arm and bandage where her scratches hid. The leather shot electric currents up her arms and pulsed throughout her entirety.

                “Why did you come here, Chat?”

                “I wanted to see if you were alright. You haven’t forgotten that you’re injured, have you, Princess?”

                His proximity was overwhelming her senses. “You didn’t know about that until you came.”

                He sighed the most obnoxious sigh, and she grinned at the theatrics she knew and loved. “You caught me, Princess. I thought—well, it’s not important.”

                She grinned. Did she dare to say that he looked _dazzled?_ “I’m sure if it is if you went out of your way to see me.”

                He stared her right in the eyes and blinked slowly a few times before speaking. His voice was soft enough that she had to strain. “Truthfully, I wanted to become better acquainted with you. Without the pretense of an Akuma, I mean. I… I heard you’re a fan?”

                She stepped closer still. “You heard correctly.”

                This was comfortable. Less so than when she had the mask on, but this was still her partner. Her kitty. She always imagined the Marinette part of herself to be a train wreck around a crush.

                She knew him too well for that, she supposed.

                “I’m glad.” His voice was still soft, almost in awe, “Really glad.”

                “I’m glad _you’re_ glad.”

                He snorted and nudged her shoulder, avoiding her wounds. “That wasn’t even funny.”

                “You laughed!”

                “Sorry to inform you, Princess, but that was a pity laugh!” He chuckled again further disproving his claim, and Marinette went along with it, the two of them trying to hush each other for fear of waking her parents.

                “I should go,” he said with a lilt in his voice as he started to make his way towards the door. “Sorry to cut the visit short, but you should rest after the attack today.”

                “Wait, Chat!” She grabbed his hand and he froze up, looking at her with wonder. “I had a nice time… Feel free to drop by again.”

                Their eye contact was intense as he searched for words. She was mesmerized by the copper aflame she saw there. “I, I mean, yes. I’ll take you up on that. Of course.”

                And he was off into the night.

 

 

                Anyone with a window open or a keen ear on that lovely Parisian evening _might_ have heard the giddy hollers of a young man darting across the rooftops.

**Author's Note:**

> This one's a lot more calm then something I'd normally write. It was a challenge for sure.


End file.
